


Pro Deus Quod Licentia

by NamelessPirate



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Age Difference, Explicit Language, F/M, High Age Difference, Spoilers, There should be more of this guy out there, not character death really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-11 00:29:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7015403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelessPirate/pseuds/NamelessPirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valerie Adams is the descendant of Jonathan Burnes; she wants to clear his ancestor's name and, to accomplish her goal, what a better way to do it than working with the famous Drake brothers? (even though one of them does not trust her eventually, ahem)</p><p>------------------------------------</p><p>Sorry for that shitty plot! (I am awful at summing things up...) I wanted to write this because, given the low rate of Samuel Drake that's out in the fan fiction market, I said 'why not write it myself?' (and here I am).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Once A Thief...

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick thing before starting. THERE'S AGE DIFFERENCE PEOPLE! Valerie is a 26 year old girl while Sam is a 45 year old man (according to the actual game)(sorry not sorry).

"C'mon," Sully said walking outside of the room, cigar in his hand "lemme show you something." 

The three of them made it out of the room towards a balcony from where they could see the whole place. "Take a look." Sully motioned to the stage.

"That's Avery's cross." Nate said in shock.

"They brought it out of storage just before you guys got here." Victor explained moving the cigar in his hand.

Samuel moved towards the ledge of the balcony, placing both of his hands on it. "They changed the lot order." He said sounding already exhausted.

"Takes a whole pile of cash to make that happen." Sully pointed out.

"All right," Nate started "well, how long before they start the bidding?" He asked.

Victor looked at him. "Ten, fifteen minutes tops." He said.

"Okay, there's gotta be some way we can grab it." He said optimistically.

"There is just the small matter of a few hundred eyewitnesses down there." Sully refreshed Nathan's memory.

"Okay, okay... we just need a diversion." Nate said thinking.

"Like?" Victor questioned him, both him and Sam looking at Nathan.

Nate looked at them, skipping from a pair of eyes to the other. "Like, um..." He turned to look at the place. "Like I don't know... but there's gotta be something." He repeated to Victor.

He kept looking at Nathan while Sam looked at their surroundings as well. "If the guards see us making for that cross--" He was cut off mid-sentence by Sam's chuckles.

"What if the don't see us?" He said. Both Victor and Nate looked at him with puzzled eyes. "Jesus," he started "you guys act like you've never spent time in prison. If you want something dirty done, then you wait..." He said.

"For lights out." The three of them said at the same time. Sam nodded smiling. 

Victor nodded in agreement. "Where's that electrical panel for this place?" He asked Nate, who was already taking out a map of the place and putting it up of a small round table.

"There's ventilation..." He said pointing to different areas of the map. "Electrical..." He said placing a finger on top of the room. "That's it up here. So we just have to climb out there and kill the lights." He planned.

"Grab the cross in the dark." Sam said, looking at Nate with a grin on his face. 

"There will be an emergency generator." Sully reminded them. 

Nathan looked at him. "That'll give us a few seconds of darkness to work with." He said.

"Meaning we'll have to be right next to the cross when the lights go out." Sam thought aloud.  


Victor shook his head. "Except there's no way we can get that close without being noticed." He nearly exclaimed.

Sam was going to talk back, but he was stopped by a waitress carrying a silver plate. "Scusate, signori." She said. "Antipasti?" She offered them.

Both Nathan and Victor declined her offer, but Sam took one bit of the food offered. "Hi." He said smiling at the girl, whose face turned a bright shade of pink. "How are you?" He asked.

The girl smiled shyly. "Ciao." She then turned around and left the table.

Nathan looked at Sam, who was following the girl with his eyes. He punched his brother's shoulder. "Would you focus?" He said half annoyed.

"A waiter wouldn't get noticed." He said looking at him and eating the food.

Victor nodded slightly. "That could work." He said.

Nathan, on the other side, hung to the only possibility available. "That will work." He said smiling. "All right." He started planning. "All right, I'll get to the breaker room, kill the power." He explained.

"You mean I'm the waiter?" Sam asked him, sucking his fingers to take the remaining taste of the food they had touched. 

"You're the best pickpocket." Nate explained him. He turned to Victor. "You head down to the floor, keep an eye on the prize, okay? Let us know if anything, uh... hinky, goes down." He commanded him.

"Roger that." The older man said smiling. 

"All right." Nathan repeated, looking at both of them. "Listen, we've still got this." He said more to himself than to Sully or Sam. "Ready?" He asked one more time.

"Ready." Victor and Sam answered at the same time.

"Alright, follow me." Victor said to them. "We'll cut through the cellar." He started walking down the hallway towards a private room and directly downstairs. 

When they reached the actually auction place, they were greeted by dozens of people gathering around the stage, watching closely the lot. Sully turned around to look at the brothers. "There is our cross, gentlemen." He said.

"Not if I get it first, Victor." A woman behind him said. "It's been so long since the last time we encountered." She said with a thick accent.

Victor turned around to look at the girl. "Well, if it isn't Valerie Adams." He said smiling. "C'mere bright eyes." He said opening his arms to receive her. 

Both Sam and Nathan watched as the said girl walked towards the older man to embrace him tightly. She was utterly beautiful: she had bright curly red hair that almost reached her stomach, her eyes were a vibrant shade of green covered with slight amounts of brown, a fairly amount of freckles covered her cheeks as she was quite pale compared to Sully's skin tone. She was not very tall, but neither was she short and the fitted black overall she was wearing only accentuated more her slight curves. 

"Uh, excuse me." She said smiling as she pulled away from Victor. "Was I interrupting something?" She asked looking at the brothers.

"Not at all, my dear." Sully answered for them. "These are my working partners, Nathan and Samuel Drake." He explained.

Valerie stepped towards them, handing her hand to shake. "Partners in crime, I would say." She joked. "It's an honor to meet you, Nathan Drake. I've heard of you." She smiled while shaking his hand.

"Thank you, Miss Adams." He said. "I hope all you've heard was good." He joked.

Valerie smiled and nodded. "Of course." She released Nathan's hand and handed hers over to Sam. "I'm actually sorry I haven't heard of you." She said to him. "But of course, being Mr Drake's brother is also an honor to meet you." She smiled tenderly to the older man, who looked at her with a plain expression. 

"Uh, yeah." He stuttered. "Thank you, I guess." 

"So, Victor." She turned around again to face Sully. "What are you doing here? Anything of your interest?" She asked.

"Not of my interest." He cleared. "Nathan here is interested in Saint Dismas cross." He explained to the girl. "What about you?"

Valerie chuckled and looked at Nathan. "Sorry Mr Drake, but you've got another possible buyer here." She smiled. "I am also interested in that cross." She explained. 

Nathan looked at her. He was about to say something, but was cut by his brother. "Do you happen to be the one who changed the lot order?" He asked directly to the younger girl.

Valerie blinked a few times, but denied with the head. "I am sorry, you must be talking about Mr Adler." She said. "I've heard he was the one who changed it." 

"Rafe's here?" Nathan asked Victor. "In that case we must get back on track." He said. "We haven't got much time, Sully." 

Both Nathan and Sam started walking towards the back of the place. "It's been good to meet you, Miss Adams, but we're running out of time." Nathan excused both himself and Sam, who left without saying a word.

Valerie looked at Sullivan and smiled. "He is way better than you told me, Victor." She said. "By the way, to what do we owe the rush?" She asked.

Sully chuckled. "If you're still around here later, I will tell you." He said turning and following the steps of the Drake brothers.

"Victor, one last thing." The ginger girl called him. "Be careful, I've seen Nadine Ross walking 'round here a moment before you three came in." She explained. "And I don't know what you have to do with Adler, but they're both sticking together." She said.

Sully smiled at the girl and moved the cigar to his lips, sucking the air. "Thank you, sweetheart. You too be careful, huh?" 

[...]

"Sully, we're running out of time here!" Nathan said while shooting at the army they got in front of them.

"Hold on, kid... nearly there!" He heard his response through the microphone in his ear. 

"Where is he?!" Sam asked to his brother, shooting as well.

"Coming!" He yelled back. "He better bring a limo or else he'll hear me!" He said.

Both of the kept shooting until their ammo was nearly extinguished. "Hey little brother, do you remember how you use the fists?" He asked. "Because I ran out of bullets!" He yelled.

"Don't even think about it, Sam!" Nate yelled. "It's a suicide! Just wait a bit mo--" 

"Someone asked for a limo?" Sully said through the microphone just before a white limousine came through the rock fence.

"Nathan, time to go!" Sam yelled running towards the vehicle.

"Fucking move guys!" A feminine voice yelled through the front part of the car, shooting as well to cover both Drakes.

Sam looked at the girl, but was running too fast to stop and ask what the hell was she doing there. He had the same reaction as Nathan, but again, the escape plan was too hurried to ask the ginger girl.

[...]

"Care to tell me what the hell is she doing here?" Samuel yelled to Victor. "And what does she want from the cross?" He pointed at the golden Saint Dismas cross that was placed on the wooden table.

"Shh, calm down, okay?" Valerie told Sam. "I would not be here if you hadn't got caught up just before." She explained calmly. "By the way, you just won the leading role Oscar for "Waiter, the movie". A bit more notorious and Adler would have shot you." She mocked.

"Dear God." Sam sighed. "Nathan, please tell me this is not real." He nearly pleaded, taking his brother's arm and squeezing it.

Nate shook his head in misunderstanding. "Sully, who is she?" He asked.

Victor chuckled at the view. "That is something she has to explain herself." He said taking a sip from the glass filled with whiskey he had beside him.

Nathan turned to look at Valerie. "Care to explain us, please?" He asked.

The ginger girl nodded and got up from the chair she was sitting on. "My real name is not Valerie Adams." She started. "I am Valerie Burnes, descendant of Jonathan Burnes." 

"The explorer?" Nate asked in shock. 

"Exactly, the explorer." She cleared out. "He died while searching for Henry Avery's treasure. History has categorized him as a reckless man, who sacrificed his crew in order to get to the treasure. I am his only descendant, but I am also a historian specialized in the Golden Age of Piracy; the point is, I want to clear his name." She explained calmly.

"So," Nathan started "you need to find Avery's treasure to accomplish your goal, is that right?" He asked.

"Yes, but--"

"Bullshit." Sam cut her off. "Nate, she will get to the treasure and steal it for herself!" He said. "We know nothing of this girl, and yet you expect loyalty from her? From Burnes descendant?" He chuckled ironically. 

"Valerie is to be trusted." Victor broke Sam's dense monologue. "I almost raised her on my own. I know she will not do such thing." He explained. Valerie shot him a thankful glance, which Victor answered with a slight nod.

"Nate," Sam started again "we can not part the gold any more! Alcázar put a price for my head, and you invite more people to the party?" He argued. 

"I don't want any money." Valerie answered quickly. "I just want to make sure he was on the right way, that he was not a murderer." She said with a knot on her throat.

Sam looked at her right into her eyes, which were slightly watering. He wanted to yell, to tell her to go defraud another poor bastard, but he found no courage to do it; she had something in her glare that told him she was no harm, that her intention was good. 

Sam took a deep breath and shook his head, looking momentarily to the ground. "You do whatever you want, girl." He looked at her again and nearly dropped his jaw at the view of her smiling widely, revealing a pair of dimples on her freckled cheeks. 

A new silence invaded the room until Victor broke it again. "Let's open this thing, shall we?" He motioned towards the cross across the table.

Sam blinked a few times and broke the eye contact with Valerie. "Yes, of course." He said taking the hammer that was lying on the table as well. "I hope I don't go to hell for this." He joked and hit one extreme of the wooden cross with the metal. "Shit." His face dropped as he looked inside of the hollow space. 

"What?" Nate asked him. 

"It's empty." He revealed.

"What?!" Valerie exclaimed in shock.

Sam looked at them and shook the cross, letting a rolled piece of old paper out. "You're such an asshole." Nate said to him.

"He's your brother." Victor said mocking. 

"Hey look." Valerie claimed their attention. "That's Avery's insignia there." She touched the red wax seal for a brief moment before Sam took it out of her reach to unroll it. 

"What is this?" Sam asked. "Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso." He read out loud.

"Today you will join me in Paradise." Both Nathan and Valerie translated at the same time. 

"It's what Jesus told Saint Dismas on the Cross, but..." He pointed at the numbers right below the inscription. "What about these numbers here? What do you make of this?" He asked Nathan.

"Those are dates." Valerie said without a doubt. "1659, the year Avery was born; 1699, the year he died." She explained. Nathan looked at her with funny eyes. "I am specialized in pirates." She excused herself.

Sam looked at Nathan. "That means we have date of birth, date of death and "Paradise." He said.

Valerie looked at Nathan, who was also looking at her. "You say it." She said smiling.

"We're looking for Avery's grave." He explained smiling. 

"Exactly." Valerie continued. "At Saint Dismas' Cathedral." 

"Wait, wait, wait." Victor stopped them. "Hasn't Rafe been searching in the Cathedral?" 

"What?" Valerie asked. "Adler is looking for Avery as well?" 

"It's a long story." Sam said to her. 

Nathan searched in his bag and took a map out, placing it across the table. "He's been searching in the Cathedral." He pointed in the map. "But the graveyard is way over here." He moved his finger to point out the place.

"He's been searching in the wrong area." Both Sam and Valerie stated at the same time. 

"We're going to Scotland." Valerie said smiling widely while looking at the three men in front of her.


	2. The Grave of Henry Avery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there again! Sorry for the late update... this is a kind of a long chapter ( I started to write and I couldn't stop until I finished ). I just wanted to thank you for leaving kudos and comments ( please, leave more comments! Don't be afraid to do so! ) Well, that's it for now and I hope you enjoy this chapter! See you in Madagascar for the next update!

"Those fucking brutes are going to hear me for destroying this place. " Valerie said looking through a pair of binoculars right to the cathedral.

Sam chuckled. "Where's that innocent and polite girl we met at the auction?" He laughed. 

"Nonexistent." She replied attaching the binoculars to her belt. "Would an innocent girl carry a 45-gun?" She said touching the gun attached to the gun holster around her thigh.

"Not the innocents girls I had met." He pointed out looking at her outfit: Valerie was wearing her hair tied in a long braid that reached her mid-back. She was wearing a denim parka on top of a grey tee and black jeans. To complete the look, Sam laughed at the militar boots she was wearing on top of the jeans.

"What you're laughing at?" She noticed him. "Indiana Jones." She mocked looking at his clothes as well.

"Sully." They heard Nathan say through the walkie. 

"Yeah?" The older man responded.

"Hey listen, we're good to go here." He explained, reaching the cliff to look at Sully's plane.

"Okay, kid." He said. "Happy hunting."

"All right, see you in a few." Nate said waving at him.

"Hey Nate." Victor called him again. "Just-- just bring me back something shiny, will ya?" He hesitated after a moment. 

"That's the plan." Nate said smiling and putting his walkie back in place.

"Let's go pay our respects to Captain Avery, huh?" Sam stated and started to walk to the cathedral.

Nathan nodded and stayed in the place for a brief moment. Valerie approached him and hit his shoulder playfully. "He cares for you." She said smiling. 

Nate looked at her and frowned. "What?" He asked.

"Victor." She cleared out. "He sees you as a son." She laughed. "Which is oddly weird, knowing him to be allergic to kids." She followed the steps of Sam. Nate walked beside her.

"And what about you, huh?" He asked the ginger girl. "We know nothing about you." 

Valerie chuckled. "There's nothing very interesting about my life." She started, noticing how Sam slowed down his pace to listen to her. "I was born in Devon, England. My parents died in a car crash when I was five. I had nobody left so the state sent me to an orphanage. I spent ten years there, and then, all of a sudden and like a fucking gift come from the very own heaven, Victor appeared." She explained while walking. "I don't know what he told the people of the orphanage, but he managed to get me out of there. The rest is all very boring. I studied history at University and when Sully told me about my past I became interested in Avery." 

"And how do you know you're Burnes's descendant?" Sam asked her. Valerie chuckled and started explaining it.

"During my long stay in the orphanage I used to read pirate related books. I've always found it interesting." She smiled profusely. "One day I found a book about our dear friend Avery. The book featured the story of Jonathan Burnes and his folly to find his treasure. I became so interested in his story that I researched more and more about him." She explained. "When I thought to know everything about him, surprise; I found a letter written to his son, Joseph Burnes. It talked about a treasure hidden in the coasts of Madagascar." 

"And?" Sam motioned her to continue while the three of them jumped off a small cliff.

"I tracked it down, I followed all the clues about this Burnes' life and I discovered his family tree." She said and stopped abruptly. "The last member that appeared in that tree was Emily Burnes." She smiled.

Sam looked over at Nathan. "Emily Burnes?" He asked intrigued.

"She was my grandmother." Valerie explained excited, looking at both of them. "Now, I know that you are thinking that it is very little proof, but I have the gut feeling that we are related." She said. "It's like you, Nathan." She motioned over to him. "History says that Sir Francis Drake died without any descendants, yet you two are here!" She exclaimed pointing at the brothers. 

Nathan looked over to Sam with a guilty glare. "Uh, yeah." He stuttered.

"Although everyone says that you and Sir Francis are not related, it didn't stop you to search for his legacy." Valerie explained. "It's the same with me."

A brief period of silence invaded the air until Nathan broke it. "Alright, Valerie." He said. "Now let's keep moving, we don't want Rafe to get to the graveyard." 

[...]

"So," Valerie said cleaning the dust from her knees "we are searching for a grave that has Avery's skull and crossbones, a pair of crossed swords pointing down and the same dates as the letter, correct?" She asked moving slowly through the graveyard.

"Correct." Sam replied. 

"Well," she sighed "let's start soon or else we'll join these people." She joked, which caused Nate to laugh as well.

The three of them started searching through all the tombstones of the dormitories with the sound of explosions filling their ears every now and then. Valerie looked up at the sky; the clouds seemed to be charged up with water that later would turn out to be snow. When the explosions were not heard, she could focus on the waves' sound hitting against the face of the cliff. So relaxing, she thought. 

"Hey." Nathan called them. "C'mere guys." He said touching and cleaning the tombstone that was nearest to the sea. "The crossbones with the skull, the dates and the crossed swords. But the name and the skull don't match." He said.

"Benjamin Bridgeman was Avery's alias." Valerie explained. "But the sigil... It does not match, that's right." 

"Yeah, it looks like it doesn't belong to the stone." Nate said placing a hand on said skull. "It should be facing..."

"Sideways." Both Sam and Nate said at the same time, earning a loud chuckle from Valerie.  


As soon as Nathan moved the skull, a long part of the ground behind the grave started to tremble and a secret passage was revealed. "Well, that was not very well hidden." She laughed. "You two go down there and investigate for me, I'll be here in case Nadine and Rafe decide to show up." 

Sam moved towards her and stood in front of the shorter girl. "Be careful, huh?" He said.

Valerie looked up at him and punched him playfully in the shoulder. "I'll be alright." She smiled.

"Just, uh... don't hesitate to call us if you are in danger." He repeated.

"Come on, Indiana Jones!" She pushed him towards the passage, where Nathan had already went down. 

[...]

"Hey, guys." Valerie said walking through the catacombs after fifteen minutes of being alone up in the graveyard. She reached for a big chamber, where three figures stood. "Jesus, Dismas and Gestas." She said to herself and smiled. "Nathan, Sam." She repeated.

"Over here, Val." She heard Nathan's voice from the other side of the wall. 

She walked to where they were standing and looked at the illuminated wall. "That's Libra." She said. "Hey, what does that mean?" She asked.

"We don't know yet." Sam said. "Are you a Libra?" He asked her.

"No way," she laughed "I'm a Scorpio." She answered. 

Sam looked down at her and nodded while Nate investigated the wall. "Well, that explains the courage and aggressive behavior." He commented.

"Hey I'm not aggressive!" She defended herself.

"In which world kicking a mercenary off of a five hundred feet cliff isn't considered aggressive?" He asked teasing her. "Like you were Leonidas of Sparta." He chuckled. 

Valerie was about to answer him, but Nathan called them. "Hey, would you look at this?" He said. "I think Avery was trying to tell us where to go next." He said.

"Is that a cave, below those crosses?" She pointed.

"Yup." Sam said somewhat disappointed. "Let's go." He said.

"Hey, Sam." Valerie called him, Nathan had already taken the lead and was exiting the chamber. "You've never said why do you want the treasure." She dropped.

Sam hesitated for a moment. "There's a guy I owe some money." He said. "Héctor Alcázar. He helped me to escape from a Panamanian jail a while ago. He gave me a period of time to give him Avery's treasure." He explained.

"Well then," Valerie said starting to walk towards the exit with Sam at her side "being the Alcázar I've heard that "some money" you talk about is not very small." She said concerned.

"Yeah." He simply said.

"We'll get to the treasure, Sam." She said sure of herself. "Just believe in your brother.  


"Uh, guys." Nathan called them at the stairs the led to the main graveyard. "Shoreline's here." He said taking out his gun.

Valerie imitated his moves. "Let the fun begin." She smiled.

[...]

"Dear God." Valerie exclaimed exhausted. "We're here at last." She said at the entrance of the cave they saw from the dormitories' catacombs. "I thought we'd never get here."

"Hey you're younger than us, and you're already exhausted?" Sam mocked her. 

Valerie chuckled. "True." She said. "I am truly amazed that you can handle all of this." She teased the older man. "You know, being your age and smoking? You sure are in shape." She laughed entering the cave.

"Oh." Nate said from Sam's behind. "That burns as your cigarettes." He continued with the joke.

Sam shook his head and bit his tongue. "You tell me when you reach my age." He tried to equal Valerie, entering the cave as well. 

"Long time to that!" He heard her say.

"Oh the sting of the Scorpios." He said chuckling.

[...]

"Hey, come look at this." Valerie said looking at a wooden panel that was hanging fro the ceiling. "To those who prove worthy, paradise awaits." She read.

"To those who prove false, behold your grim fate." Nathan finished and looked directly at Valerie.

Sam chuckled from where he was standing. "Yeah, well, I guess Avery was a better pirate than poet." He laughed.

"This is not Avery's." Valerie said. "Come look at the sigil. It's Tew's." She said.

"No." Sam said looking at the sigil. "I mean, it's clearly his sigil, but it can't be him. He died attacking the same fleet as Avery."

"That's what the stories told us." Nate said.

Sam looked at Valerie and frowned. "If this really is Tew's mark... then that means he's involved in all of this... how?" He questioned. Right after Sam ended talking, a louder explosion was heard. 

Valerie laughed aloud. "They worked together." She dropped. She looked at how the brothers were looking at her and sighed. "Come on. It's a lot of coincidence even for a pirate treasure. Do you really believe they died in the same attack and were not working together?" She said. "And that if they really died during the attack, which I highly doubt." 

Sam looked at Nathan. "It... it could be." He said and nodded. "Come on, we need to continue." 

[...]

"I'll never get used to this." Nate said as he introduced his hand through the rock hole.

"I'll never get used to the death traps." Valerie laughed. "Really, that seesaw nearly killed me." She said.

"Yeah, but you can say you flied." Sam eased her down. 

When Nathan pulled the handle inside of the wall, the door to a new chamber was opened. "Okay, what now?" Valerie said entering first.

"It's another cross." Sam said walking towards the centre of the chamber, where a scale was placed on a pedestal; at one side it had a golden cross, at the other, a bunch of coins. Sam was about to take the cross, but Nate interrupted him.

"Whoa, whoa, don't touch it!" He said in a hurry. "It's another test. It's the only valuable thing in the entire cave." He explained.

"Greed." Valerie said from their behind. "It has to be the coins." 

Sam turned around to look at her. "Are you sure about that?" He asked nervously.

Valerie looked at him and nodded slightly. "Pretty sure." She said.

Sam sighed. "Pretty sure will have to do." He said reaching over the coins.

"Just one." Nate reminded him.

"Greed." Sam nodded. "I got it." He looked at Nathan and took one of the copper coins. "Please don't be a trap." He muttered under his breath and felt a small hand placed on his back, gently squeezing his clothes.

Right after he took the coin, all of the torches in the chamber lit and a map on the ceiling became visible, sending its reflection to the ground. Sam turned around and watched as Valerie was still gripping his jacket. She noticed it and released it. "Just, uh... just in case I had to pull you back." She explained. 

Nathan laughed aloud. "You recognize the shape?" He asked over to them. 

"It's Madagascar." Valerie said.

"Yeah. And that is pointing directly at King's Bay." He added pointing to the blue star on the ground. "Son of a bitch." Sam muttered.

"What?" Nathan asked.

"Avery's screwing with us." He said. "What's next? The North Pole? Outer space?" He said pissed off.

"Hey, relax." Valerie patted his back. "For now, we have to get out of here before Rafe appears, that's the only way we can--" She stopped at the middle of her sentence. "Nate, are you thinking the same as me?" She said looking at Nathan's hesitant face.

He looked at her. "For those who prove worthy." He smiled profusely.

"For those who prove worthy." Valerie repeated.

Sam looked at the both of them. "Hey, quit the "beautiful mind" mood and explain what's going on here." He demanded.  


"Paradise awaits." Nathan continued looking at Valerie.

"Paradise has to be--" She started, but a huge explosion that shattered the wall at their side stopped her. Valerie fell to the floor and covered her head with both of her arms. She felt as a hand took hers and pulled her up.

"My dear Valerie." Rafe said looking at the girl. "I have to say that I din't expect you to be here. Now you're siding with these assholes? Last time I checked you were working for me." He said amused at the brothers' shocked face.

Valerie chuckled, noticing Nadine's presence as well. "It's not much of a change I'd say." She mocked the brunette man as she cleaned her jacket of the dust from the explosion. "And I was not working for you." She reminded him.

Rafe took a step forward, getting closer to the ginger girl, who had a grin on her face. "That shipwreck--"

"Does your head still hurt?" She asked. "Or do I have to remind you why I joined you?" 

"You left me." He said sounding pissed off.

Valerie gasped jokingly. "You sound heartbroken Rafe." She said placing a hand on his chest. "Should I be worried for you?" 

"No one leaves me." He said in a menacing tone, getting even closer to the girl. 

"I did." She returned in a whisper, not backing up from the approaching of the man. "But if it makes you feel any better, the treasure sunk in the middle of the ocean just after I abandoned you."

Rafe looked one last time at Valerie and then turned around to look at the ceiling. "That is a map of Madagascar, pointing directly at King's Bay." He affirmed pointing up. "Where is my treasure?" He asked looking at the three of them.

Sam took a step forward, clearly annoyed. "Your treasure?" He asked. He was going to add something, but Valerie cut him off, placing her arm on his chest to stop him from getting any close to Rafe.

"You'll need the cross over there in order to find it." She said pointing at the golden item.

Rafe looked at the cross that was standing on the pedestal. "You're not pulling out one of your ol' tricks, are you?" He asked.

Valerie chuckled loudly. "Oh believe me, Raphael." She called him by his full name. "I would take it myself, but there are some people aiming at me with a rifle. And that does not make me feel very comfortable."

"Rafe." Nadine called him. "I'm running out of patience." 

Rafe sighed and looked straight at Valerie. "Go get the crucifix." He commanded to a mercenary by his side. 

When the man was about to take it, Valerie backed up slowly to get to safe ground, movement that both Sam and Nate followed not so secretly. Nadine looked at their feet at gasped. "Don't touch it!" She exclaimed to her man, who had already took the cross in his hands.

The floor beneath them started to shatter in pieces, making Nadine and Rafe run for their lives. "Shoot them!" Rafe yelled and almost instantly a rain of bullets came over them.

Valerie removed her gun from the gun holster at her thigh and started to shoot at the mercenaries. She lost sight of the brothers, but she could hear both of them cursing. Next thing she saw when she scanned the place was Nathan climbing a column in order to get to safe ground. Sam was waiting to catch him when he jumped. 

"What the fuck are you even doing Nate?" She yelled covering him by shooting at the men pointing at the younger Drake.

"Valerie, over here!" Sam called her. "We need to get the hell out of this place!" He said while helping Nathan. 

"No need to remind me." She joked when the three of them were on safe ground. "Up there." She pointed.

"Oh shit." Nate said. "There's more of 'em!" He exclaimed while shooting at Nadine's men.

[...]

"God damn it, Valerie." Sully said through the walkie. "I can hear the fireworks from here. What the hell's going on?" He exclaimed.

Valerie chuckled while charging up her gun. "Nothing too uncommon, Victor. But please, get us out from here." She said aiming and shooting at a mercenary.

"Yeah." He replied. "Hold on, I'll be there as soon as I can." 

The three of them kept shooting and running while climbing obstacles in order to get to Sully's plane. 

"Bollocks!" Valerie exclaimed. She was just at the very ledge of the ground, ahead of her was a long way down sliding through rocky terrain. 

"Come on," Sam mocked her "it's just an easy way down." He laughed as he slide through the terrain.

Valerie sighed and jumped off as well. "These jeans were new!" She said angrily when she reached down. They didn't have much time to talk because more of Shoreline's men were shooting at them. "God I'm already tired of these assholes!" She said shooting at the mercenaries straight at the head, one after another, finishing them quickly without even blinking.

Nathan looked at Sam in shock. "Nice shot there, Val." He complimented.

"Nothing I can't handle." She said putting the gun on her gun holster again. "Let's keep moving towards the sea, shall we?" She started walking again.

[...]

"Kid, they're shooting at my plane." Sully said. "If you don't hurry your ride's gonna sink!" He exclaimed.

"We're nearly there, Victor." Valerie replied sliding down yet another rocky terrain. "Come on, I'm right behind you two!" She yelled to the brothers, who were already swimming towards the plane.

"Come on up." Sam helped Valerie get inside of the plane.

"Victor, take us the hell out of here." She said walking towards the older man. "Now!" She said completely out of her nerves.

The plane took off the water and only when it reached a fairly height, Valerie sat down on the back seats. "Here." Nate handed her a blanket. 

"Thanks, Nate." She thanked him. "So, Madagascar huh?" She asked.

"What the hell was that?" Sam took Valerie by the shoulder, moving her agitatedly.

"Hey!" She answered moving out of Sam's reach. "Relax, Indiana Jones. What was what?" She asked. "The shooting? The sliding? What?" She said amused.

"You. With Rafe back there." He simply said, sounding, of course, mostly annoyed. "Were you going to tell us you had worked with him?" He inquired.

Valerie looked at him, not believing her ears. "That was in the past, but okay." She said.

Sam grunted and looked over to Nate. "We can not trust her." He said.

"Hey." Valerie stood up and faced the older Drake. "If I wasn't to trust I would've let you die in there, got it?" She moved a finger to poke him on the shoulder. "Instead of that, I risked my life several times to get your ass saved. An now you go and say 'Oh, we can not trust her'" She imitated his voice. "You're an asshole, Samuel Drake." She said and turned around to sit down again.

Sam stood up there, in silence and without words to come up at her. "So, you worked with him?" Nathan asked Valerie.

She sighed. "Yes. About three years ago." She started. "I was interested on a shipwreck in the coast of Tasmania. He was also interested. I did not have the money but he did. We worked together, but I duped him, alright?" She explained. 

Sam laughed. "Excuse me, but he seemed more afflicted than to just had been duped." He said.

Valerie rolled her eyes and scratched her skull. "You're gonna ask me everything, are ya?" She looked at him. "God, I can't believe I'm telling this to you." She sighed. "It was a slip. We got wasted when we discovered where the ship was. One thing led to another and... Well, I think you get what I'm saying." She explained.

Nathan gasped while Sam just laughed it off. "You slept with Rafe?" He asked not believing it. 

"Yes." Valerie answered. "But it is not my fault that the poor bastard expected anything more from me!" She exclaimed. "Come on, Nate. If I were siding with Rafe I would've offered you to Nadine's men. And I didn't." She moved closer to Nathan.

Nathan looked at her, thinking. "Sully, we're going to Madagascar." He finally said. Valerie looked at him and smiled sincerely, thanking him. 

Valerie walked towards Sully and sat at his side, sighing deeply. "Uh, so Valerie--" He started, but she rose her hand to stop him.

"It was a mistake, Victor. A thing from the past." She said, referring exactly to what Victor wanted to say. "Now let's focus on Avery, please." She stated.

Sully nodded and changed of conversation. "So, no treasure then?" He asked.

"The treasure was never in Scotland." Nathan said from a seat behind the two of them.

"Then what was the point of the Saint Dismas cross?" Sam asked exasperated. "It was all for nothing?" 

"Avery was recruiting people." Valerie said. "He needed to prove the people that would later surround him. He needed to trust them, and what a better way than to initiate them with all the dangers of the caves we've just been in." She explained. 

Sam approached the seat she was on and moved the head to the inside of the pilot's area. "So, we all got eye patches and parrots, right?" He joked.

"I don't get it." Sully said. "Why the hell would they go to all that bother just to weed people out?" He gestured.

"To protect himself." Nate answered from the back as well. "Avery was one of the most wanted pirates back in the time. He needed to trust them, as Val said. To keep their treasure secret." 

A light silence invaded the plane. "'Their' treasure?" Sam asked. "Whaddya mean, "their" treasure?" He repeated. 

Valerie turned around to make eye contact with him. "Look, it sounds logical that Avery only invited wealthy pirates to join him. Thomas Tew, our new friend? He was a successful pirate on his own. Why would he want to join Avery if it wasn't for a bigger amount of gold?" She thought aloud. "The crosses were the sign of the invitation, and Avery would have only sent them to important pirates like himself and Tew." She said. "Am I right, Nate?" She asked the younger Drake, who had been listening to her excitement.

"Exactly." He said. "What if all of them had put their treasures together? In the exact same place?" He said grinning.

Sam looked at the two of them. "That would make the Gunsway haul look like chump change." He affirmed. 

Sully chuckled. "Holy shit." He laughed. "Okay, so where exactly in Madagascar are we going?"

"King's Bay." Sam said. "It was an old pirate haven back in Avery's time."

"I know it well... it's a big place." Sully looked back to Sam. "Anything more specific?"

Sam sighed. "Well, that map chamber completely caved in so, you know..." He said pissed off.

Valerie frowned. "Sam, care to hand me that coin you took?" She turned around to look at him. She looked closely at the coin when he handed it to her. "What would these recruits have left with after exiting the caves?" She said smiling and showing the coin to the three men and throwing it back to the brothers. 

Sam took it and examined it closely. "There's a volcano on this side." He said.

Nathan laughed. "There's a volcano near King's Bay!" He exclaimed happily.

"Exactly." Valerie said smiling at Sully. "We need to get a move on, Victor." 

Sully nodded smiling. "Sure thing."


	3. The Twelve Towers

"Hey, would you look at this?" Valerie said motioning over the water that surrounded the dock and gasped. "This is beautiful!" She exclaimed. "What a shame I didn't bring my bikini." She pouted.

Sam stopped to look at her and gave a throaty chuckle. "I can think of a certain someone that would be glad to see you in a bikini." Sully whispered to her while he looked at Sam walking past Nathan, who was talking on the phone.

Valerie turned around and looked the way Victor was looking, noticing that he was talking about Sam. She then gave such a loud laugh that she had to cover her mouth with both her hands. Sam and Nate turned around to see the ginger girl with a face color that matched her hair. Sam chuckled and continued walking carrying a backpack.

"You can't be for real." She said to Victor while taking another bag. 

"Come on." He said walking beside her to the hotel. "I am a man. I know of these things." He explained. "And you don't need to be very intelligent to see how he looks at you." 

Valerie looked down to the ground, a bright shade of pink coloring her cheeks. "I don't like the idea." Valerie argued. "I mean, he's an asshole sometimes." She said. "Besides, he seems the kind of guy that would call you sweet names like "cookie" or "sprinkles"." Valerie added laughing at her own words, earning a chuckle from Victor as well.

"And you totally don't like that, huh?" He inquired.

Valerie just groaned and continued walking. "Hey, who's Nate talking to?" She asked avoiding Victor's previous conversation.

"To his wife, Elena." He simply answered.

"Oh, he's married?" She gasped in shock. "Oh I feel like a total dumbass for not noticing that the ring meant that." She laughed at herself. Victor looked at her with a grin plastered on his face. "Woah, woah, stop right there. My expectations are not set that high." She defended herself before Sully could continue. "Come on, the great Nathan Drake? I am not meant for that." She laughed leaving her backpack at the door of her room and taking the key out of her pocket.

"Wrong Drake then." Victor said before leaving for his room.

Valerie looked at him as he walked away, cigar in hand. She shook her head and opened the door. She placed the bag on the bed, opening it and unpacking everything. She knew they were not going to be there for long, but she gifted herself with a few nice clothes. She was putting everything in the closet when a few knocks were heard on the door.

"Come in, it's opened!" She said without leaving her place at the closet.

She heard as the door was opened and as footsteps reached for her position. She turned around just to see Sam looking at her with a funny face. "What?" She asked playfully. "Never seen a girl unpacking a bag before?" She said and continued leaving the clothes by the closet.

"Uh, yeah," he said "just thought you were not that kind of girl." He moved from his side by the closet to the bed and sat on it.

"Which kind of girl?" Valerie asked curious of what he meant.

"The kind of girl who would unpack her clothes instead of leaving them inside the bag." He laughed, lighting a cigarette and putting it to his mouth and looking her right in the eye, as if he knew she was exactly that kind of girl.  


Valerie tried all the hard she could not to let him know that. The only reason why she had unpacked everything was because the humidity of the air would ruin the clothes, but in other conditions she would have thrown the back to the floor and left without any regrets.

"You still smoke?" She asked instead of falling into the void of silence, looking at Sam through the corner of the eye.

"Yeah." He affirmed. "Wanna try?" He offered her the lit cigarette.

Valerie chuckled and rolled her eyes in a non-annoyed way. "No, thanks." She denied. "If I wanted to give myself a slow death I would wait to be drunk at the least." She said closing the door of the closet and turning fully to look at him.

Sam shook his head, as if he was trying to stop himself from what he was going to say. "Careful there. When drunk you can make mistakes you will later regret." He dropped, the corners of his mouth moving slightly upwards as he continued to stare at her.

Valerie looked at him and laughed, shaking her head while looking to the ground. She noticed the slight amount of jealousy that was hiding behind his tone, but decided not to go further. "So what's the plan for today?" She asked sitting at the bed as well and adjusting the laces of her boots. 

"Ah, you know. Nothing new." He started. "We should be heading for the volcano, where we believe there is a control tower."

"A control tower?" She asked. 

"Yeah. These buildings that are high as shit? That's a tower." He mocked the younger girl, who rolled her eyes.

Valerie was about to hit Sam on the shoulder, but the brown haired man was quicker and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her body towards his. Oh God, she tried to avoid it, but his move ended up with him sprawled all over the bed and her placed across his entire chest, which, by the way, was very muscled. 

Sam looked at Valerie in the eye, smiling goofily while he still had her wrist in one hand and the other placed across her back. She merely looked at him, drowning in the color of his eyes without saying a word. "You know." She hummed with husky voice. "This could end up really bad." She placed her free hand on his chest, moving it up and down slowly and teasingly.

"Really?" He almost whispered. "Just how bad?" He started to caress the small of her back with his long, warm fingers, not moving his eyes from hers.

"Like," she moved her head down almost painfully slowly "really," she downed a bit more, the gap between their lips almost inexistent "really bad." 

Sam moved upwards to meet her, but the ginger girl was quicker and moved her lips towards the man's neck, kissing the inked zone and leaving a soft pink mark upon it. "You're such a tease." He groaned.

Valerie smiled to herself and, almost as sudden as it all had started, she got up and looked at Sam from above. "You're right on that." She laughed and winked at him.

"Oh, you gotta be kidin' me." He moved his hands to his face and pressed, laughing in mental pain. 

Valerie laughed under her breath at the sight of Sam all over the bed like a kid. "No, I'm not." She smiled, taking his hands with hers and pulling him up. "Besides, who knows if you'd suffer a heart attack." She mocked.

Sam looked down at her, she was biting her bottom lip, and that as something he could not stand. He grabbed the smaller girl between his arms, rough and tightly to Valerie's surprise. "I'll show you my heart can afford a lot of action yet." He teased her. 

Valerie smiled widely, revealing the dimples Sam loved so much. She moved her arms to the back of his neck and crossed them from behind, pulling the man closer to her. It was then when she noticed the faint fragrance he naturally had with him; it reminded her of the ocean's breeze, fresh and subtle. 

Sam moved one of his hands to Valerie's face while the other still rested on her lower back, slightly and lovingly caressing it. His hand felt rough in comparison to her cheek yet somehow he managed to be as gentle as she couldn't even imagine, his thumb caressing the softness of her skin.

She drew in closer to his lips, faintly ghosting over them softly. She tasted the cigarette's smoke on his lips, cigarette she wasn't even aware of where it had landed; she didn't even care about its strong presence on Sam's lips. 

He drew in closer to finally kiss her. She tasted sweet, but something in his mind reminded him that she was nothing but sweet. Still, he embraced her as if she was the most fragile and precious thing on Earth at that moment. 

Valerie ran a hand through Sam's incredibly soft brown hair, pulling it backwards just a bit, but enough for him to release a deep throaty moan. She smiled against the kiss and bit his lower lip in tease, earning more groans from the older Drake.

Suddenly, and to the pair's deception, a bunch of knocks were heard against the room's door. Valerie slowly backed away from the kiss, sensing as her lips were beating from Sam's own lips. She looked at Sam's face, which was tinted with a bright shade of red. 

She was still in his arms. "Hey, wanna free me?" She asked in a whisper looking at him right in the eye.

Sam shook his head. "You'll come back." He smiled and shortly kissed her lips again before releasing the girl entirely.

Valerie smiled and reached for the door, opening it after giving a quick glimpse at Sam. "Hey." Nathan said from the other side of the door. "We're about to go." He leaned against the door frame. "Are you okay, Val?" he asked noticing how the girl was still panting from the kiss.

"Yeah, sure." She reassured him. "I'll catch you in a sec." She smiled at the bright-eyed Drake. 

Nathan nodded. He stood away from the door, but before leaving he turned again. "Have you seen Sam?" He asked. "I've been searching him for a while now." 

Valerie laughed nervously, hearing a low laugh from the inside of her room. "I've lost track of him when we arrived at the docks." She said, looking at how Nathan's face filled with what she thought it was worry. "Don't worry, Nate. He is old enough to take care of himself." She smiled warmly to the man, who smiled briefly at her in return and turned around to finally leave.

Valerie closed the door slowly and turned around only to collide with a strong and wide chest. "He worried for you." She said looking up at him. "Probably he's thinking you're in some sort of trouble."  


Sam chuckled and shook his head. "You'd have to take care of me then." He said pinning her to the door and lowing his face down to hers. 

Valerie stared at his eyes, a mixture of brown with green that seemed darker at the moment. She reached for his face and caressed it, noticing a few scratches here and there. His warm skin melting at her touch. She smiled briefly, averting to look at his lips for too long. "Come on." She muttered, lovingly hitting the tip of his nose with her finger. "They're waiting for us."

[...]

"Victor." Valerie said for the third time from the back left seat of the 4x4. "If you don't put that fucking phone in your pocket and move your ass to this car, I will do it for you." She threatened the older man, who looked at her. "And you know, it won't be a pleasant thing." She winked at him.

"It's not my fault!" He defended himself. "It's out of signal." He said putting it in his pocket for his own good and climbing to the front right side of the car.

"You sure you know how to use it?" Sam mocked putting the copper coin from Saint Dismas' cathedral back in his pocket and climbing next to Valerie. Sully only sighed.

"Hey." Nate said. "I drew the path that will take us directly to the volcano." He said showing the map to the rest of the group. "Might get a little bumpy though." He escaped himself.

"That's why we fought to hire a goddamn 4x4, Nate." Valerie patted him on the back playfully. "Come on, let's get on the road." She reclined back on her seat.

Nathan started driving through the red-sanded terrain. In fact, the path he chose was fairly bumpy, but nothing she couldn't manage. 

"So," Valerie said "these watch towers we're looking for." She started. "There's a high number of them, correct?" She asked.

"Sure." Nathan said. "Avery needed them to look for his domains." He explained.

"Domains?" Sully looked weirdly at the younger brother.

Nathan looked at him briefly, turning to look at the road as well. "It was the first word that hit me." He excused himself and chuckled innocently.

Sam turned to look at Valerie. "Avery was one of the most wanted men in the world." He started. "If he was hiding something here it'd make sense if he used the towers as lookouts." 

Valerie smiled at him sarcastically. "I got to that conclusion by myself, smartass." She mocked, Sam's reaction was to sigh and smile slightly at the girl. "I am just doubtful of how we are going to get to the volcano before Shoreline does." She said. "I mean, no offense to your award-winning drawing, Nate, but this is a pretty open area. We might get lost easily without some GPS." She explained. Nathan stumbled over his words, but decided to raise his shoulders and give no answer.

"Hey, watch out for the rock piles!" Sam exclaimed when Nathan ran into a group of stacked stones.

"Technically, they're called cairns." He explained.

Valerie moved onwards to Nate's seat to touch his shoulder. "No, no. Keep hitting them." She said.

Sully looked at her through the corner of the eye. "You know, someone worked very hard to stack those rocks, missy." He said.

Valerie shook her head. "Cairns had been used since prehistoric times to mark the easiest and safest path to a certain point, usually the top of a mountain." She explained. "If we follow them I'm sure we'll get to the highest point of the area, which is the volcano we're heading for." She finished.

"Uh, alright then." Nathan said. "Sorry, rocks." He apologized and hit another cairn.

"Clever girl." Sam said placing his hand on top of Valerie's knee, squeezing it a bit. 

The ginger girl looked at him, removing a strand of free hair that had gotten into her face and placing it behind her ear. "Doubted it?" She smiled and placed her hand on top of Sam's.

[...]

"Alright." Nathan said getting down from the car. "This is the last tower before the volcano. Just a five-minute break and we'll continue, alright?" He said taking out his phone and looking for signal.

Valerie looked at him from the distance and got down from the vehicle as well. "Hey." She said when she approached Nate's place. "Last fight was kind of exhausting, huh?" She tried to break the ice, touching her now ripped jean and laughing.

"Yeah." He merely said without looking at her.

Valerie sighed and shook her head. "Hey, if you don't mind me saying, you should tell her." She tried again; this time she got Nathan's attention. "I mean, I'm not here to judge your decisions." She rose her hands in defense. "But with time she will take it better if you tell her yourself." She explained. 

Nate looked at her and put the phone back in his pocket. "It's not that simple." He sighed. "We made a deal. And it was me who broke it." 

"She'll understand." Valerie quickly answered back. "We all do." She smiled at the blue-eyed man, placing her hand on his shoulder and giving him a quick squeeze.

Nathan looked at her with kind eyes and nodded. "I think you're right." He said. "How are you?" He asked. "I mean, uh... how are you taking the trip?" He said walking towards the edge of the platform in which the tower was standing.

"Good." Valerie responded walking by his side and admiring the view. "Everything points to somewhere. We have no death ends. That's good." She said. "We might even find Avery, and I'm excited for that." She chuckled, looking at the view of King's Bay from the heights.

Nathan turned halfway to Valerie, finding the courage to come at her with what he was about to say. "Uh, the other day, when you say you had, uh... you know." He stuttered while Valerie was looking at him with an amused glare. "With Rafe." He specified. 

"Oh, that." She looked down for a moment. "Hey, everything's fine, alright? The past is in the past, y'know?" She smiled briefly.

"I wanted to apologize." He insisted. "You had saved our neck several times back in Scotland. It wasn't fair to doubt you." 

Valerie looked at him and smiled. "As I said, the past is in the past." She reassured. "You know, allowing me to stick to you both as a shadow for the entire search is enough." She smiled. 

Nathan smiled and passed his left arm around Valerie's shoulders, squeezing the to-comparison-small body against him. "You're such a good person, you know?" He laughed.

"It's just the way I roll." She laughed against his side. "Come on, let's get to that volcano." She said after a while as she moved to the car and jumped on it.

[...]

"That's our tower!" Valerie said still on the car. "It's bigger than the other ones. Definitely has a better detail and more complements like the staircase." She pointed out. 

"Following the cairns was a good idea after all." Nathan said parking the car just in front of the high slide of mud that was before them.

"Rock piles, please." Sam repeated.

"Alright, alright. Rock piles." Nathan sighed in defeat.

Valerie hopped off the car, examining the long way up that separated them from their goal. "We'll need to use the winch again." She said turning around to look at Nathan. "Hey, Sully, hear?" She mocked. "Winch. Again." She laughed.

Victor looked at her from the car and shook his head in response as he sighed. Nathan got out of the car and took the winch, climbing the stairs to wrap the cable around the tree. Valerie looked at the slide; there was a giant rock in the middle of the way, and there was no option to avoid it. 

"There's something I don't like about that rock." She said when Nathan returned to the car, walking to the vehicle as well.

"It's just a rock." He said turning on the engine. "It surely has been there for ages."

"Just, uh-- just try to be cautious." She muttered from the back seat, obviously nervous. 

Nathan started to drive carefully, as he didn't want to end up falling from the long way down at their right. The vehicle started to climb the terrain slowly. Valerie noticed ad the winch was moving the rock from its place. 

At one point, the rock was completely removed from the gap that its weight had formed and fell through the cliff that was at their right, pulling the car with it. 

"Fuck!" Valerie cursed, hanging tightly to the car's bars. "Don't look down. Don't look down." She repeated to herself. She then felt as a strong hand surrounded her right wrist, not letting go. Valerie looked at her right and watched as Sam was holding on to the car as well. He was not looking at her, so she thought it was some kind of instinctive movement. 

"Don't panic!" Nathan exclaimed. "Don't panic!" He said while pressing the pedal as hard as he could in order to make it to the top.

"I am very much panicking here!" Victor exclaimed, gripping his seat.

The car was slowly moving up the cliff. Cracking noises could be heard from the winch. "The cable's gonna snap!" Sam exclaimed, obviously in panic as well.

Valerie looked up and watched as a piece of the wall was separating from the rest of the cliff. "Nate, watch out!" She yelled.

Too late. The piece of rock had hit the car, making it fall even more. Nathan's hands slipped from the wheel as he also fell down.

"Nathan!" Sam yelled, releasing Valerie's wrist to catch his brother's hand in time. "I gotcha." He said.

Nate gripped to the side of the car, slowly climbing up to the driver's seat again. The winch was about to rip, as the noises it emitted were louder and louder. 

Valerie gulped. She was afraid of heights. She watched as Sam got up, surrounding the bar in front of it with both arms and placing his hands together as he praised the Hail Mary. The ginger girl looked at him in pure shock, but decided not to comment the elder Drake's monologue.

The car kept ascending the wall until they were finally on safe ground. "Ah... well, hat was fun, right?" Nathan joked as he untied the winch from the tree.

Valerie nodded, still in shock. "Yeah." She laughed. "I almost had the temptation of asking you to do it again." She said moving her palm to her forehead to brush away the faint drops of sweat.

"Yeah." Sully said. "I'm definitely sharing this one with my shrink."

"You have a shrink?" Sam asked, slightly laughing.

"No." The older man said. "But I will after this." 

Nathan hopped on to the car and turned on the engine again, driving towards the wooden bridge that separated them from the tower.

"That looks unsteady." Nate said. "Hold on to something!"

"I am already tired of Avery!" Valerie yelled as the car jumped across the gap between both sides of the bridge.

As the car hit the other side, the four of them were expecting the bridge to shatter in a million pieces. Their surprise was enormous when the bridge stayed in place instead of falling down.

"That was a nice change of pace." Nathan commented as they reached safe ground.

"Yeah, I'm almost disappointed." Sam chuckled. Valerie looked at him with a grin plastered on her face. "Almost..." He said looking back at her.

Valerie was the first one to hop off the car, approaching the entrance after climbing easily up the collapsed stairs. "Hah, that option was very easy to be true." She said to herself after finding out that the main entrance was collapsed as well.

"Hey!" Sam said approaching her place. "Would you wait for us?" He asked. "There could be some Shoreline men in here."

"Come on!" She said. "That door may lead to the inside of the tower too." Valerie ignored Sam's petition and walking to said door. "I think we can blow it up."

"My pleasure." Nathan said taking one of his grenades out and smiling to the ginger girl. 

After erasing the door, Valerie was about to enter first, but Sam took the smaller girl by the wrist and pulled her back. 

"Hey!" She exclaimed as Nathan and Sully entered the newly opened area. "What are you even doing?" She asked looking up at him.

"Listen, I don't want you to get into trouble, so you are not separating from me from now on." He said, still holding her wrist.

Valerie stared at the dark-eyed Drake. "Come on, big guy." She said pressing his chest with her free hand. "Tell me a lie and say you are not eager to get inside that tower." She smiled widely.

Sam nodded faintly, getting closer to her face. "I am." He admitted. "But that doesn't mean that I want to take unnecessary risks." He gestured with his free hand as well.

Valerie moved her free hand to his back. "How caring." She got on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, moving her lips to kiss his jawline gently after it, earning a low groan from Sam. She managed to free herself from his held and in a matter of seconds she was standing by the door. "Come on, sweetcheeks. Let's get moving." She laughed at the man's puzzled face.

[...]

"Oh boy." Valerie said tracing the pictures of the sculpted wall before her. "You might want to come and take a look at this." She felt as both brothers approached her. "That's your man, right?" She pointed at the St. Dismas' statue.

"Ah, Saint Dismas, we meet again. " Nate said.

"So?" Victor said from their behind. "What do we got?"

"More sigils." Valerie said and smiled. "That's Bonny, Baldridge, Condent, England, Farrel, Want." She pointed at every sigil as she said its captain. 

"And of course our beloved Avery here." Sam pointed out. "And Tew." He added and looked at Valerie, who was smiling to herself.

"I told you." She said looking at him. "They worked together."

Nathan looked at her and nodded. "All right." He said. "What do you think the trick is here?" He approached Dismas' sculpture and started pressing on random points. "A button?"

Sam joined him while Valerie walked backwards to Sully, looking at the wall from a distance. "Guys." Victor said. "Whenever you're done fondling poor Saint Dismas, I think you might want to come take a look at this." He laughed.

Both brothers did as he said, looking at the wall from a distance as well. "The trapezoid is obviously the volcano." Valerie started. "And the crown, that's King's Bay."

"We got a map, gentlemen." Sully finished.

Sam sighed and shook his head. "Victor, you're a goddamn genius." He said. 

"Excuse me?" Valerie exclaimed laughing. 

"Okay." Nate said. "We're right on Avery's sigil. That means..."

"That means every pirate has its tower." Valerie said.

"And our treasure could be in any of them." Sam added noticeable excited.

"I can count twelve towers." Sully said. "Which one of 'em?"

Nate and Valerie kept looking at the wall while Sam turned around, looking at the ground. "Hey, ah... Victor?" He asked kneeling. "You didn't start smoking cigarettes by any chance, did ya?" He asked showing off a consumed but still lit up cigarette. 

Valerie looked at Sam with a worried face. "We're not the first ones here, are we?." She said. 

A brief silence invaded the scene, just to be replaced after a short while. "Fire in the hole!" A voice yelled and a explosion that blew up part of the ceiling above them. 

"Fuck." Valerie cursed taking out her gun from the gun holster at her thigh and covering herself quickly behind a fallen pillar. 

"It's an ambush!" Nathan yelled and started to shoot at the Shoreline men that were descending through the hole they had made. 

The rain of bullets kept going for a while. "Damnit!" Valerie shouted and threw her empty weapon at an armed mercenary in front of her. She went down to her knees, covering her entire body with the rock pillar. The ginger girl looked to her sides, looking for a weapon to use. "Hey Sam." She yelled at her right. "Cover me, alright?" 

She gave Sam no time to analyze her words, because in a matter of seconds, she jumped from the safety of the pillar and took the CHINA Lake GL that a mercenary had dropped when he died. Valerie took the weapon and quickly turned around, aiming at the armed Shoreline man and shooting. The recoil of the weapon threw her backwards.

"Are you alright?" Sam said approaching her and helping the girl to get up, AK-47 at the other hand. 

"God, that was exciting!" The ginger girl exclaimed. "Hey, watch out!" Valerie pushed Sam to the right, taking the rifle from his hand and shooting at the mercenary that was aiming at Sam. 

Even though she was quite fast and the bullet hit the man's chest killing him instantly, he had already shot his gun, hitting the girl on the side of the stomach. Valerie threw the rifle to the ground and moved her hand to the injured part, closing her eyes in a painful grin. 

Sam looked at the girl with a horrified expression. "Valerie!" He took the girl in his arms and ran to a safe place. The elder Drake was surprised of how light the girl actually was; either that or the adrenaline of the moment gave him extra strength.

"It's just a scratch. It's just a scratch." The girl repeated again and again when Sam had left her on the ground once again. "Sam, I'm okay." She said.

The man didn't hear her words, he instead removed her hand from the stomach and looked at the wound. It really was a scratch; the bullet had just brushed against her side, but it was bleeding quite a lot to be just a light brush. "You're gonna be alright." He kept repeating, quite panicking.

"Sam!" Nathan yelled from the other side of the place. 

"Sam, go help him." Valerie said. "I am fine!" She exclaimed.

He just kept on gazing her injured girl, not sure about anything. "Sam, move your fucking ass outta here!" Valerie pushed Sam with her leg, sending him out of his thoughts. He abruptly nodded and got up, taking the weapon he had in his gun holster and shooting at the Shoreline men.

[...]

"Jesus." Sully sighed. "That all of 'em?" He asked relieved.

"Let's hope so." Nathan said taking a rifle from the ground and attaching it to his back gun holster. "Where's Valerie?" He asked.

"Just over here." She said, coming out from where Sam had left her, pressing her stomach with her hand and taking a 45 gun from the ground.

"Crap." Nate ran to her side, as well as Sam, who reached her side before his brother. "What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing." She smiled. "I'm fine, I'm fine." 

"You sure?" He insisted.

"Yeah." She looked at her stomach. "It has stopped bleeding, see?" She repeated. The three men kept gazing at her with curious looks. "Can we continue where we left off before these assholes appeared?" She sighed a bit annoyed and walked effortlessly to the wall.

Valerie approached the sculpted wall and hummed when she gazed at the map. She clenched her brows as it was some sort of riddle to solve. "What are you doing?" She heard Nate asking.

"Just confirming a suspicion." Sam answered. 

Valerie turned around and watched as Sam registered one of the mercenaries' corpse, taking out a map from one of his pockets. "Shit." He said. "Look at this." He handed the map to Nathan.

He looked down at the map and sighed. "They figured out the towers too." He muttered.

"Alright, so now what?" Sully asked.

"Now what?" Sam repeated, clearly annoyed. "Now we're screwed, okay? Because there's four of us and God knows how many of them." He almost shouted. "And they have a head start." He added.

"Yeah, but they don't know where to go." Nathan replied approaching the wall, at the right of Valerie.

"That's great Nathan, because neither do we!" Sam yelled.

"Yes we do." Valerie dropped. She turned around and smiled at the older Drake, taking out the coin from Scotland. "This matches either England's or Farrel's sigil." 

"Still, two beats the hell out of twelve." Sully laughed.

"You're a goddamn genius, Val." Nate laughed and patted the ginger girl on the shoulder. 

"All right." Sam pointed to Farrel's sigil. "I'm gonna take this tower. You and Sully, you take that one." He pointed to England's sigil.

"No, no, no, no." Nathan repeated. "Rafe's men are all over these towers by now." He argued.

"Exactly." Valerie smiled. "So if we want to have a chance against him, we've got to split up." She supported Sam.

"No, no and a hundred times no." Sam stopped Valerie. "You're going right back to the hotel." He said.

Valerie gasped and stopped in place. "I've just saved your ass, yet another time." She nearly yelled at the man. 

"Exactly." He faced her. "And you got injured for me." He said.

Valerie laughed and looked at the ground for a brief time before looking up at Sam again. "You've hired a babysitter for a full day and I am going to finish the job." She said. "You can bet your life on that." She finished and walked past Sam to where they had come from.

[...]

"If you run into any of those Shoreline clowns, you call us, okay?" Nathan said to both Valerie and Sam, who were sitting in on of the multiple vehicles parked out of the tower.

"We will." The ginger girl smiled at the younger Drake and hit the elder on the arm. "Let's go." She said sternly.

Sam nodded at his brother. "See you soon." He simply said, turning on the engine and driving towards King's Bay again.

Nathan watched as the vehicle disappeared from his view. Sully looked at him and faintly hit his arm. "C'mon Nate, we gotta hurry." He said and walked towards another car. 

"Yeah." The younger man merely answered and walked over to the car as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi you all! Sorry for the extra-late update, but this is kind of a long chapter (let me tell you how much I enjoyed the Madagascar part of the game). This contains small fluff between Valerie and Sam (at last!).
> 
> I am planning on making an at-the-most seven chapter story, so that means we are near the middle of our story (don't worry people, the relationship between Sam and Valerie will evolve quickly).
> 
> Please, please leave comments about wether you like the story or not (it really makes my day!) Hope you've enjoyed this chapter! <3


	4. Hidden At Plain Sight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG OMG OMG!! This humble writer apologizes profusely for the super-double-extra delay. 
> 
> This chapter was kinda hard to write (due to the action scenes). Hope you enjoy AND hope you forgive me <3

"So, you're mad at me." Sam said while turning off the engine. "I get it."

Valerie didn't answer him, she just opened the door and got off the car. "I think you're old enough to know that by yourself." She merely said walking to the tower's entrance.

Violet took the door knob between her hands and twisted it. The door was locked. "You thought it would be that easy?" Sam tried to calm her mood, to which the girl responded by kicking the door open with her foot. "Okay, maybe it was that easy." Sam gulped.

Valerie didn't even answer him, she just looked at her sides and entered the door. Sam followed silently, closing the door after he entered the tower. "So, what are we looking for?" He tried to cheer the girl up again.

"Farrel." The ginger girl merely answered. Sam failed yet again.

Valerie continued walking towards the centre of the tower, looking up. She saw a giant bell at the top of the building, but apart from that the place was empty. She walked to the centre of the main room and looked for clues. She didn't know where Sam was, nor she cared for it really. She was just too mad at him to care.

Sam, on the other hand, was resting his body against one of the walls of the room, looking straight at Valerie. He focused on how her jeans were now ripped due to the multiple sliding moments and to the fights they've had that day. He went up to her torso, and a worried grin invaded his face when he saw the bloody white shirt the girl was wearing. The bullet had went through the clothe and now her skin was slightly exposed.

He really took a long time to focus on her concentrated face. How the humidity of the air made the few straps of rebel orange hair around her face curly. How he found the contrast between the color of her hair and the pallor of her skin perfect. Sam also found out that he loved the way the subtle black liner she wore made her eyes even more unique.

Sam sighed deeply. The air filled his lungs to the limit. "Valerie, I am sorry." He finally found the courage to say it.

"For what?" The girl answered calmly.

"For everything." He said. "I' have doubted you since the very beginning, and you don't deserve that." Sam explained from his place by the wall. "And, actually, for whatever I've done." He finished and looked at her.

Valerie moved her head up and looked at him right in the eye. "You don't even know why I'm mad, do you?" She asked.

Sam gulped. That question really scared him. "I think I have a faint idea." He decided to risk it.

Valerie chuckled while she shook her head, not moving from her place as well. "You wanted me to stay at the hotel." She said as a matter of fact.

"I wanted to protect you." Sam excused himself. "I'd do anything to protect--"

"I don't want anyone to protect me!" She yelled, cutting him mid-sentence. "I don't want anyone to care for me." She started to walk towards him. "I've been alone all my life, and now you come here and think yourself with the right to decide about my life." Valerie was now almost in front of him.

"I did it for--" Sam tried to speak again.

"I don't care if you did it thinking about my safety." She interrupted him again. "I don't want nor need a knight in shining armor." Valerie finally stood right in front of Sam, looking up at him.

Sam stared silently at the younger girl, not knowing what exactly to tell her. "You know, you can count me into the list of scared and turned on by you." He slightly laughed.

That hit Valerie so hard that she couldn't stop the laugh she wanted to hide. "Really, Sam?" She asked after a while of laughing.

"Yeah." He said laughing as well. Sam decided to risk it all by taking the laughing girl in front of him by the waist, closing the space between them. Valerie looked up at him with a smile plastered on her face, dimples showing. She moved both of her hands to his chest, tracing lines on it with her fingers. "And, I can totally be that knight in shining armor if you want." He whispered moving his right hand to her face while the left caressed the small of her back.

"Oh, really?" Valerie asked biting her bottom lip while staring at him in the eye. "Well in that case you might want to clean the rust from you armor if you really want to impress me." She mocked.

Sam didn't answer, he just drew in to her lips and closed the space between them, kissing Valerie slowly and lovingly. After a while, he descended from her lips to her jawline, spending a fair amount of time between kiss and kiss.

Valerie laughed as Sam's subtle facial hair tickled her skin. She the started to moan when Sam descended to her neck, leaving small hickeys all over the area. Valerie moved both of her hands to Sam's back, going up and down slowly while he continued kissing her.

He started to mutter something Valerie could not understand. "What?" She asked laughing while Sam still kissed her neck.

"I said that my ass is buzzing." He repeated laughing.

Valerie smiled and broke the embrace without backing too much from him. Sam took the phone from his back pocket and checked it. "It's a missed call from Sully." He said. "They've probably found something."

"Then you should call him back." Valerie smiled.

Sam didn't answer, he just put the phone next to his ear and waited. "Hey, we've just searched our tower." He answered after Sully spoke. "There's nothing." He waited a bit more. Valerie could see as his expression evolved from a neutral one to a 'oh-my-God-are-you-serious' one. "Okay, we're on our way." He finished and hung up the phone.

Valerie waited with a grin plastered on her face. "And...?" She was smiling widely.

"They have something." He said shocked. "They have something!" He repeated, this time taking the ginger girl by the waist and pulling her up while he turned around in circles.

Valerie was laughing frenetically as she spun and spun. After a short while, Sam put her back on the floor. "They have something." She said lowly and smiling, getting on her tiptoes and kissing Sam, both of her hands pressed on his cheeks. "Come on, let's get moving." She said after breaking the kiss.

[...]

"Alright, here's another photo." Sam said taking the phone and looking at its screen.

Valerie sat up on a stone ledge right in front of the tower, watching as Sam's face dropped as he watched what Nate had sent. "What's it?" She asked moving over to Sam. "Sam, lemme see!" She stood on the tip of her toes to try to see it for herself.

"Pro Deus quod licentia." Sam merely said, looking at her with a goofy smile on his face.

Valerie seriously thought Sam was freaking out. "For God and liberty." She translated. "What's with it?" She insisted.

Sam handed Valerie the phone for her to see it. She took the device and gasped as soon as she looked at the screen. "Is this.. what I think it is?" The girl looked at Sam in pure shock. "Libertalia?" She whispered.

"Libertalia." Sam repeated smiling widely. "I have to call Nathan." He said taking the phone away from Valerie and dialing the younger Drake.

Libertalia. The word kept roaring in Valerie's head again and again. She smiled without a reason. Well, in fact there was a reason to it: they could be following the path to the actual pirate utopia she had heard so much about. The same utopia that Jonathan Burnes lost his mind for. If they were really behind that path, she could finally clean his name out; she could finally use her real surname without the burden of being the descendent of a tyrant.

"For God and liberty." He said after a while. "Nathan, do you understand what this means?" He asked quite loud.

Valerie was looking at the market that was placed right in front of them. She watched as in a matter of seconds everyone started to run away from the place. Noises of cars approaching them were heard too. She gasped and ran to Sam. "Sam." She said hitting the man's chest. "Sam, Rafe!" She insisted.

Sam looked over at the market place and watched as Shoreline vehicles were approaching them. "Shit." He said and dropped the phone, taking Valerie up and covering themselves with the stone ledge Valerie was sit before.

"Okay, okay, okay." Valerie repeated to herself. "We need a plan. There's just too many of them." She said over to Sam as she took her gun and started to shoot.

Sam took his gun as well, shooting at the mercenaries. "Now they bring motorcycles?" He said pissed off.

"That's it!" Valerie said. "We kill one of those assholes on a bike, we steal his bike and then we scape." She explained as she stood up on her knees and shot again.

"It could work." Sam said.

"It must work." She repeated, getting to the floor when she watched as a mercenary aimed at them with an RPG. Even the ground vibrated when the shot hit the wall at their back. "God, they've evolved." She joked.

[...]

"Hey!" Valerie shouted, taking a break to charge her gun again. "I think that's your brother over there!" She said.

Sam took a brief moment to look back. In fact, they had stolen a Shoreline bike. Right now, they were driving at full speed to scape from the army that followed them. To be realistic, Sam was the driver, Valerie was sitting on the back of the bike, back-to-back with Sam and shooting at whatever she could at that speed. "Yeah, it's him." He said.

"Go faster, Sam!" The girl yelled. "I am nearly kissing that truck's bumper." She tried to shot at the driver, but failed.

"I'm driving as fast as I can!" The man yelled back, accelerating the most he could. "You are a risky one, huh?" He joked.

"Sam," Valerie warned him "I am not in the mood for jokes." She focused on the truck's wheel and shot at it, hitting the tyre and making the driver to loose control and collide with the side of the tunnel they were driving through.

"God damnit baby," Sam said when he heard the explosion from the truck "I might want to anger you more often." He laughed.

Valerie smiled while charging up her gun again. "No use in trying, darling. Now there's two more of 'em." She went back to her job.

Valerie tried to get rid off as many as them as she could, but they just kept on appearing once again. Her legs hurt from gripping to the bike seat with all of her strength to not fall from it. She was exhausted and her wound had started to bleed again from the action. Taking a brief break, she looked at the side of the road, where Nathan's car was. She saw as Nate got up from his stand jumped off of it, hooking to one of the trucks as he left Sully with the vehicle.

"God damnit," she laughed "your brother is one crazy motherfucker." She continued shooting at all the bikes that were following them.

Sam laughed. "I guess it runs in the family."

The persecution continued for a long while. Shoreline trucks, cars and biked kept appearing from all over. Valerie could see as Nathan jumped from one vehicle to another, trying to get to them. he jumped to one of the cars and hit the pedal, running over several bikes until getting to their side.

"Hey, brother." Sam said trying to approach Nathan's car.

"Get closer!" Nate yelled back, keeping the elder's Drake speed.

"I'm trying!" He said back.

After a few seconds, both of the vehicles were at a minimum distance.

"Hop on!" They both said at the same time.

"You two get in the goddamn car!" Nathan shouted annoyed. "Now!"

Valerie growled and looked at them. "Stop fucking arguing!" She yelled. The ginger girl looked at her left, watching as a truck was driving right to them. "Sam, watch out!" She said and Sam almost stopped the bike, while Nathan's car was rolled by the truck.

Sam drove until he reached a dead end. Valerie got off the bike and took a rifle from the ground, checking the ammo. "What the hell are you doing?" Sam yelled over to her.

"Go get Nathan." She commanded. "I'll be fine."

Sam shook his head in disagreement. "I'm not leaving you here alone with those guys coming over." He argued.

Valerie shot him a glare that almost spoke for itself. "Sully is right behind us, Sam!" She insisted. "Go get your brother!"

Sam looked at her, but had to accept reluctantly. "We'll meet at the hotel." He said before quickly driving towards Nathan.

Valerie stood there, hearing the sound of bikes approaching. She climbed to the nearest house and prepared herself to shoot. She didn't need to wait very long; in a matter of minutes, a group of mercenaries got to her position.

She started to shoot at them, trying to save as mush ammo as she could. The bullets from her new acquired rifle soon ran out, and she knew for a fact that her gun only had ten bullets left. Shit, she thought to herself.

"Well, here goes nothing." Valerie got up from the roof where she was lying and aimed at every Shoreline she managed.

She was starting to panic when the sound of strange shots were heard. She looked at her surroundings and spotted Victor's car running over a bunch of soldiers, finishing them all. "Need a ride, princess?" He asked her.

Valerie laughed, still from the top of the house. "That'd be lovely." She jumped from the roof and walked towards the vehicle. "You made quite the entrance there." She joked.

Sully chuckled and smiled at the girl. "If I'm good at one thing, that is escaping in a rush and making entrances." He joked. Valerie chuckled as well, gripping the wound on the side of her stomach to relase a bit of the pain she felt. She got inside of the car and gave a throaty growl when she finally sat on the seat. "Everything okay?" Sully said preocupied, turning on the engine.

"I am physically and mentally exhausted." She said with her eyes shut and rubbing her temples, leaving faint blood stains on her skin. "I need a fucking bath." She chuckled.

Sully smiled at the girl kindly. "Nothing that can't be done, then." He said already driving toward the hotel.

[...]

As soon as she she closed the door of her room, Valerie sighed profusely. She unattached the gun holster from her thigh, the weigh of the gun making a thud as it collided with the floor. The ginger girl didn't even care to take it from where it had landed, she just walked toward the bathroom and closed the door shut.

She looked in the mirror: what a mess, she thought. Her braid, nicely done before Sam and she had reached the tower, was now nothing but a whole tangle of dark orange hair, stained by God knows what kind of things. Valerie looked at her face: there were some scratches here and there, nothing that she couldn't stand.

She walked to the tub, turning on the tap to the hottest water it offered. She let the water stream as she removed her ripped clothes, the mirror soon covered with fog.

Valerie started off by removing her black boots, which seemed to be glued to her feet. As soon as fresh air greeted her toes, the girl smiled and hummed pleasantly. She unfastened her belt throwing it to the floor, just on top of the boots. The black ripped jeans followed to the pile of clothes-to-be-fixed that she had made at the corner of the bathroom.

She looked with a bit of sadness at the messed-up shirt when she had removed it; the part that matched her wound had been completely erased from the clothe. Valerie really liked that shirt, but she sighed reluctantly as she acknowledged that there was no use in keeping it.

The girl removed the fog from the mirror as she freed her hair from the braid. When she saw her entire body she realized it was practically covered by bruises entirely. She focused on her bullet wound; it really was just a scratch, but the area was a bit swollen and redened, surrounded and almost covered by dried blood.

Valerie kept tracing the map that the bruises made upon her skin, like the game of joining the dots, until the tub was completely filled. She then removed her underwear and got inside of the water, moaning in pure pleasure as the hot steaming water touched her sensitive skin.

Valerie leaned her head against the edge of the tub, closing her eyes to relax. She thought about everything that had happened and everything that was about to happen if they really were after Libertalia. She would need to explain the brothers another one of her true purposes to follow them in their journey, and that scared her a bit.

The girl submerged her entire head under water, holding her breath for as long as she could. There hadn't been any news from Sam nor Nate, but she wasn't too preoccupied for them; they were hella tough, she smiled to herself. 

After approximately half an hour, she got off the tub. She had cleaned her hair and healed her wound with the supplies Victor had given her before. She walked to the closet, checking for the few clothes that remained there. She decided to put comfortable clothes on: a pair of blue jeans and a baggy white shirt. 

She gave a last glance to her room before leaving; it was quite a mess, but, whatever. She closed the door and went after Sully, who was resting against the car from before, cigar in hand. "Hey, Victor." She said approaching the man. "Any news?" 

"Actually," he started "I'm leaving." He said and looked at the girl at his left.

Valerie looked up at him with a puzzled face. "What? Why?" She asked.

"Nathan told me to take care of Elena." He dropped and moved the cigar against his lips, taking a long puff.

Valerie gasped, eyes wide open. "She's here?" She asked.

"She just got out of Nathan's room." He said, wanting to reprimand himself for the slight bitter smile that invaded his face.

Valerie didn't add anything more, she just walked toward Nate's room as quickly as she could. As soon as she got to his door, it was opened by Sam, who looked down at the girl with a sad expression. Valerie wanted to ask him if everything was okay, but he just got away as soon as she opened her mouth to speak.

Valerie fully opened the door, walking slowly toward the main room. She looked at Nathan, who was resting against the table where all the maps and clues were pinned. He hung his head low, looking apparently at the floor.

"Nate?" Valerie asked almost whispering.

"You warned me." He simply said with brittle voice.

Valerie took a step closer. "Come on now." She said. "You knew that this could happen." The girl stood a few steps away from the man's body.

Nathan rose his head, still not looking at the girl. "What to do now?" He questioned rhetorically.

"Now," Valerie stepped closer "we are going to follow the clues we have. We are going to find that goddamn treasure and save Sam." She explained, putting a hand on top of Nathan's shoulder and gently squeezing it. The blue-eyed Drake turned around and looked directly at her eyes, with a glare so honest Valerie could swear his soul was reflected in his irises. 

"Thank you." Nathan merely said taking the girl in a tight embrace. 

Valerie embraced him back, trying to reassure him. "There's no use in crying over spilt milk, Nate." She whispered. "Now you have to do your best at helping Sam." 

Nathan was the one who broke the embrace when he felt better. "You're right." He said. "What about you?" 

Valerie smiled at him kindly. "My goal is the same as yours, so don't worry about me." 

They stood there, in silence for a while. "Ah," Nathan turned around to the map and motioned at Valerie to come closer "the map Sully and I found in that tower." He explained. "It leads to an island near the coast of Madagascar." 

"We'll find it, Nate." Valerie smiled. 

"We are leaving tomorrow morning." He said. 

Valerie smiled while walking to the door. "At your command." She gestured as a militar and got out of the room, closing the door after her.

She went right to her room, but stopped in front of the pool, where she saw Sam sitting on the ledge of it, feet in water. Valerie walked slowly toward him, not making much noise. The ginger girl removed her own shoes and rolled up her jeans, sitting at the left of the smoking man after it.

Sam noticed her presence, but didn't say anything; in fact, some time passed before the man spoke. "It's a beautiful night, huh?" He said moving the cigarette to his lips after it.

Valerie chuckled as she looked at the sky, calmly making waves on the pool with her feet. "Is that the best thing you thought to say?" She mocked. Sam chuckled briefly as well, his glare lost somewhere. "What's wrong?" The girl asked noticing his behavior.

Sam took yet another long puff, filling his lungs before answering. "Things aren't going as planned." He merely said, this time turning his head to look at Valerie. 

The ginger girl laughed shortly. "I didn't think you were that kind of man." She added smiling at his now softer expression.

"Which kind of man?" He continued her game.

"The kind of man that drowns his sorrows in.. ah, cigarettes?" She smiled looking at the faint smoke Sam's cigarette emitted. "Come on, Sam." Valerie hit the older man on the arm playfully. "I didn't think that Rafe could affect you to this point. I thought you were-- what's the word here?" Valerie thought aloud "A no-fucks-given-man." She chuckled.

Sam laughed as he took another puff, gazing at the dim light of the cigarette after pulling it away from his lips. "How are you?" He asked not looking at her. "I mean, after all of what happened today--"

"Scared." She replied cutting him mid-sentence. Sam turned to look at her again, Valerie nodded and looked at him. "I'd be lying if I said Rafe didn't scare me. I've seen what he's capable of, but then again, this very important to all of us; you can not just run away from a psychopath with a gun." 

Sam slightly nodded in acknowledge. He looked at the girl as she continued making waves on the water of the pool. He smiled to himself and offered her the half-consumed cigarette. Valerie looked at him, gazing down at his hand and taking the narrow tube, gently brushing her skin with his and taking a long puff after it, releasing the smoke slowly as she looked at the sky.

"I thought I'd never try one of these." Valerie said gazing intensely at the cigarette. "These are cancer sticks, you know?" She asked over to Sam, who had been looking at the girl since she had put the cigarette to her lips. 

He chuckled. "I didn't put a gun to your head. You're not gonna make me feel guilty, sweetheart." 

Valerie chuckled as she passed the cigarette over to Sam again. She looked up to the sky again as she moved her head to rest against Sam's left arm. Valerie inhaled deeply, releasing the air almost painfully slowly. 

"It's easier in the movies." She said. "You don't see Indiana Jones preoccupied for anything more than his treasure. You don't see him sweating for anything more than when he runs away from a bunch of Nazis." 

Sam furrowed his eyebrows in disagreement. "What about the first movie? What was its name--" He thought.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark?" Valerie told him. 

"Exactly." He said. "Indy clearly worries about Marion as well. You can see his pain when he thinks she died." Sam tried to convince the ginger girl, who still rested against his arm.

Valerie tried to tell him otherwise, but had to admit his point. "Alright, I'll give you that one." She pouted. 

They both fell in silence for a while. Valerie thought of her childhood watching those movies; adventure movies that she used to fill her dreams with at night. 

She sighed. "Would you care if that happened to me?" She asked out loud; it was more a thought than a sentence she wanted to say, but she ended up talking aloud. 

Sam moved his left arm to surround Valerie's body, sending shivers down the girl's spine as his warm arm touched her entire back. "I would search for you. Even if they tried to kill me; I would search for you." He said completely sure of his words. 

Valerie backed up a bit to look at his face, to check if he really meant all of that. "Even if a psychopath aimed at you with his gun?" She wanted to be sure of him. 

Sam looked at her directly at her eyes, nodding slightly. "Even if Rafe sent his whole army after me." He replied.


End file.
